Problem: 6 people can paint 4 walls in 38 minutes. How many minutes will it take for 8 people to paint 5 walls? Round to the nearest minute.
Answer: We know the following about the number of walls $w$ painted by $p$ people in $t$ minutes at a constant rate $r$ $w = r \cdot t \cdot p$ $\begin{align*}w &= 4\text{ walls}\\ p &= 6\text{ people}\\ t &= 38\text{ minutes}\end{align*}$ Substituting known values and solving for $r$ $r = \dfrac{w}{t \cdot p}= \dfrac{4}{38 \cdot 6} = \dfrac{1}{57}\text{ walls painted per minute per person}$ We can now calculate the amount of time to paint 5 walls with 8 people. $t = \dfrac{w}{r \cdot p} = \dfrac{5}{\dfrac{1}{57} \cdot 8} = \dfrac{5}{\dfrac{8}{57}} = \dfrac{285}{8}\text{ minutes}$ $= 35 \dfrac{5}{8}\text{ minutes}$ Round to the nearest minute: $t = 36\text{ minutes}$